Any football fan could appreciate Ron Dayne the player, who rushed for more yards and bowled over more would-be tacklers than anybody in history. But to begin to appreciate Ron Dayne Jr. the person, to understand how far the Berlin, N.J., native has come, you’d have to know where he started.

Then you’d see why the usually-stoic Wisconsin senior was nearly overcome last night at the Downtown Athletic Club. You’d understand what was behind that bearhug he gave Badger coach Barry Alvarez when his name was announced as the final Heisman Trophy winner of the millennium. And you’d realize why his voice cracked when he talked about his uncle Rob Reid, who was there for him when his mother couldn’t be and his father wouldn’t be.

“When they announced me, I didn’t know what do. Hug my coach, carry him around, go grab my uncle and put him on my shoulders? It’s hard to explain those kind of emotions. I don’t have the words,” said Dayne, whose misty eyes told the story eloquently enough.

The 5-foot-10, 254-pound Overbrook H.S. grad ran for 1,834 yards and 19 touchdowns this year for the Rose Bowl-bound Badgers (9-2). And his career mark of 6,397 broke Williams’ all-time mark and sealed his claim to arguably sports’ most glamorous individual award.

Dayne got 586 first-place votes and 2,042 points, while Georgia Tech QB Joe Hamilton had 96 first-place votes and 994 points. Virginia Tech’s Michael Vick become only the third freshman in history to place third in the voting. But the man of the night was clearly Dayne, resplendent in his blue pinstriped suit.

He had plenty of family members with him, including his girlfriend, Alia Lester, and their 2-year-old daughter, Jada, resplendent in a little purple dress. Also there was Dayne’s mother Brenda and his guardians, Rob and Debbie Reid. And while Dayne demurred that Warrick was the country’s best player, he said his uncle was “the real Heisman winner.”

“I’d like to thank my daughter, Jada, for being the biggest inspiration in my life, and I’d like to thank the real Heisman winner, Uncle Rob, who is always there for me,” Dayne said. “When he took me in, it wasn’t like an uncle; it was like I was his son. He had kids, and his kids were like my brothers and sisters. He was like a father to me.”

After Dayne abused Ohio State for 161 yards and four TDs on Oct. 2, he sent a letter to Reid titled “The Heisman.” It ended: “Uncle Rob, for never making me feel like a nephew, but always making me feel like a SON, for that Uncle Rob, you win the Heisman. Love, Ron Dayne Jr. 33.”

Dayne has seen much for a 21-year-old. He was nearly strangled to death by his own umbilical cord, saving himself instinctively by wedging four tiny fingers between his neck and the cord. At 11 his legs were so twisted by his fast growth he was told he’d never play sports; by 18 he was the third-best discus thrower in U.S. schoolboy history.

Dayne had to watch through eight-year-old eyes as his father Ron Sr. abused his mother. He wound up going to five schools in one year because Brenda was afraid Ron Sr. would try to kidnap Ron and little sister Onya; and he lived in three homes another year because Brenda, now struggling with depression and drug addiction, could no longer care for the children. But Rob was there to take Ron into his South Jersey home, and he was there last night.